7 June, 2010 This week has been really fun. We have this sweet couple that I talked about last week Kurt and Shantel. And she is awesome. She refuses to wait to get married or anything and she is dead set on getting baptized! She quit smoking cold turkey with out and help from us...that’s how set she is on getting baptized. So were working with them and this morning we went golfing with Kurt and were going to start working with him to and get him worthy and help him. And it was cool a few days ago we were walking around and I see this guy wearing a white polo and I thought I bet that’s a Mormon selling pest control! And go figure I was right! He came up to us and talked to him for a bit and then said "Oh, I sold to this really sweet lady you should go see her" and he gave us her address and we went by and talked to her. She is awesome, she was raised Jewish but doesn’t go or anything and she is way open and wants to read the Book of Mormon and pray and she was really excited and after I taught here the Restoration (my companion was distracting the very loud kids, thankfully) I asked her if it made sense and she was like “ya its perfect it puts all the puzzle pieces together.” It was way cool. Well that’s about it for this week. Thank you all for your letters and prayers. Love Elder Marsh
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Thompson Station, TN -- Week 6
Thompson Station, TN -- Week 5
1 June, 2010 This week has been crazy. So to start it off Monday night we get to our apartment at about 9:17 and we’re about to go in and I see a car I recognize. And there’s President Hutchings sitting in his car waiting for us. And it freaked us both out because Elder Smith has family in not the greatest of health. So we talked with him for about 40 min and then he left and elder Smith and I looked at each other like, "What just happened?" Then we had interviews with him on Wednesday, good times. He was joking about going swimming and stuff to me, and Elder Smith made the comment “man if I was to joke around with President he'd rebuke me but he just loves you.” I thought that was funny. So next Saturday we have a meeting with the whole mission and the Knoxville mission with Elder Ballard and 4 other General authorities. And me and 7 other missionary’s were asked to sing at it. So, about 4 weeks ago I got bit by a tick. And Friday I got a call from the mission doctor telling me I had to take some meds so I don’t get lime disease. Another missionary got it and so the church is really being pro-active and making all of us take it. And man these things a like Horse Pills! Their massive, and for those of you who don’t know I CANT SWALLOW PILLS!!!! But some home, miraculously, I have had very little problem with swallowing them. So today at transfer meeting we got some new missionaries and one of them is way cool. He’s waiting for his Visa to Buglers and his parents, aunts and uncles, and grandparents were all in the mafia (not anymore) and he played Free Safety for BYU Football and was going to start this year but he went on a mission instead. Cool stuff. We have a girl getting baptized soon named Shantell Cruz, but first we have to get her and her fiancé married. So we talked to them last week and he was leaving to meet her parents. We were talking and joking around before we started the lesson and she said something to Kurt and I defended him and he’s "ya that’s my best man right there shake and bake" so he asked me to be his best man at the wedding. And were working with Kurt to get him worthy to be the one to baptize her! It will be an awesome 2 weeks. She’s supposed to get baptized on the 12th but the wedding might mess with that a little bit. Well I have to go back to work. Thank you for your letters and now that its summer time I expect more (no school excuses). Love Elder Marsh
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Thompson Station, TN -- Week 4
This week as been a bit more exciting than the others. I got to go to the Franklin area this week and went with Elder Horner and we had a great time. He’s going home next week so he is a little trunky but it was good. Then on Saturday I called our mission president and we got permission to go outside of our zone and we worked with the Red Cross doing flood relief. We were up in Ashland City which is actually in my first area and there were so many homes that were on the river that just got taken out. We were talking to this one family and we asked them if they needed help and they said no because they were going to rebuild their home. But they said "we do need to get rid of this tree though. Were going to cut it down and let it fall on the house for fun. Want to watch?" its was awesome and that day we also took 7 truck and trailer loads to the dump. These houses were just demolished. It was not a frightening but cool sight. I have pictures but I can’t send them on this computer. The library here is pretty restricting. But that’s about it this week. Life isn’t as exciting now. Its nice being a regular missionary (not all those extra assignments) because there’s less stress. But at the same time you do the same things week after week and it’s not very exciting to hear about but there are lots of funny and spiritual things that happen throughout the week that make it all worth it.
Love Elder Marsh
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Thompson Station, TN -- Week 2
So this week has been intense. Last week it rained and rained and rained. It rained so much that almost all of Nashville and surrounding cities were about 7 to 10 feet under water. So this week we have been doing mostly service. Tuesday we went to an investigators house and he owns a huge ranch and some of his fences got taken out by the water so we got to rebuild a fence and round up some cattle. And then we dug a huge trench around his barn so his goats won’t drown. This is the same guy who gives us about a gallon of Goat milk every 3 days or so. So we drink a lot of milk now. It’s not really any different tasting then cow milk but if you let it sit for too long its gets a nice layer of cream on top and looks really gross! Then Wednesday and Thursday we went to the Thompson Station Baptist church…it is huge! It got flooded so they gave me and my companion a skill saw and sledgehammers and said "take out the drywall and the insulation" it was fun! For any of you who have read the Book of Mormon we joked about taking out "the great and spacious building" And we also got to go and get all muddy underneath peoples houses that got flooded and rip out all the Air vents and insulation so their houses could start drying faster. One woman loved our help so much that she said she wanted to cook us dinner sometime and she wanted write a song about us. She has written music for Josh Groban and other people and also written stuff for movies so that was pretty cool. And this week I finally met some investigators we have been trying to reach for like 10 days. We went over and taught them the Restoration and I asked her to be baptized and she looks at me and says, "I’m ready, just tell me when!" It was really sweet, but we have to get her and her fiancé married first! But its all been done before so well see how it goes. That’s about it for this week. Love ya'll
Elder Marsh
Thompson Station, TN -- Week 1
This week has been a really strange one. So Tuesday night around 8:00 I got to Thompson Station, TN just below Nashville. We have a part time car and live about a mile out of our area so it takes about 30 min to walk to get to our area. So we waste about 2 hours a day just walking to and from! It’s a little ridiculous but that’s life! So Saturday and Sunday we had a huge thunder, lightning, and tornado storm come through and it rained and rained and rained. It completely flooded downtown Nashville, Brentwood, Franklin and parts of surrounding cities. Downtown Nashville was under about 4 feet of water from what I hear. So ya, not a lot of missionary work has been happening here lately. We were told Saturday morning to stay inside and several times throughout the day and night we got calls telling us to get into the bathroom because there were supposed to be tornados coming right at us. It was awesome, my companions were all freaking out and I was just laughed and enjoyed the rain. So one of my companions Elder Hathaway got his visa and he flies to Bogotá, Columbia. So it’s me and Elder Smith now and he's been here for 2 weeks and me for 1. So it’s almost like whitewashing again. Things are just like what I'm used to again. There’s this sweet kid were teaching his name is Jeff and he’s 16 and after we taught him at a members home he texted us later and said, "I’m more convinced then I thought I’d be" it was way cool then we got to teach him the first part of the plan of salvation . He just gets it and he never has any question because he said it all just makes perfect sense! I love teaching people who God has prepared and are truly the elect! We'll that’s about all this week.
Love Elder Marsh
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Paducah, KY - Week 12
And I hate fish too. So this week has been amazing. were teaching this sweet guy named Hobard White and this guy is like in love with me (not in a gay way) but he keeps like saying “man you teach with so much faith and all this funny stuff.” I'm just like..."um...thanks?" But he has come to church twice and absolutely loves it. And we have been teaching so many people it has been wonderful. So I'm staying with Elder Syme in Paducah for at least another transfer (six more weeks). It’s funny. He and I joke about how we don’t like each other but we both don’t want to leave! But that’s mostly just because were both prideful about how we do missionary work. But I love it here! This week has been the first week I have been a zone leader and actually had a full week of proselyting (teaching people) as well, and it has been crazy to see how many lessons we can teach. Normally, on a good week we teach about 30. This week we taught 46! It was awesome but the best part by far isn’t how much we teach but it’s so awesome to see The Spirit teach then when were there. And you can almost see there hearts change and truly grasp the Gospel of Jesus Christ and His love. So this week has just been wonderful. And it’s been way nice to see the ward change. As we have success, more and more people want to come teach with us and fellowship people. So it’s been nice. It seems like every area I go to when we get there, there was just nothing happening and when I leave that’s when things just start to get better and start having success. So, maybe I can see it through this time! There’s a nice picture of how I thaw ground beef. I didn’t have time to put it in the microwave on defrost. And man some of the sunsets here are absolutely beautiful; too bad I’m color blind! Well that’s about all I have to say this week.Love Ya'll
Paducah, KY - Week 11
Hey everyone. So this week has been way sweet. We have our Zone Conference on Thursday and our Mission President’s wife gave me some cookies and stuff so that was pretty sweet. There have been some way cool miracles that have been happening, unfortunately I don’t have a lot of time. The libraries in the city I am in are closed so Elder Syme and I had to drive all the way up to Metropolis IL (from Kentucky…in a Tennessee mission) to e-mail today. Time is short and I have to go. Thank you for everything. Sorry,
Love Elder Marsh
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